Articles for feminine hygiene, such as sanitary napkins, liners, tampons, interlabial pads, incontinence articles, and pessaries, are generally used by women for feminine needs, such as, e.g., to absorb menstrual or other body exudates, for pelvic support, and/or for other feminine needs. Such items are typically individually packaged to facilitate hygiene, ease of use, and ease of carrying. Tampons, for example, can be individually packaged into wrappers that fully enclose the tampon. The wrappers can be made of any suitable material, such as, for example, plastic film, such as film made of polyethylene, polypropylene or cellophane. The usual way of opening such wrappers is to separate or tear the wrapper to create an opening in the wrapper through which the tampon can be accessed.
Currently available wrappers can have one or more drawbacks. First, many wrappers separate into more than one piece of material upon opening. This type of wrapper generates several pieces of waste originating from the wrapper that have to be handled during use of the tampon, and then must be collected and disposed of. Second, wrappers can unpredictably tear in a manner that prevents reliable and consistent opening. Third, wrappers can undesirably open during transport and prior to use, such as, e.g., in a user's purse or pocket, which can result in a loss of hygiene and waste of the article. Fourth, many wrappers are not designed to facilitate use of the wrapper for discreet disposal of a portion of the article, such as a tampon applicator, after use. Fifth, many wrappers can be cumbersome to open and/or may not have intuitive opening means that are easy for a user to understand. Further, currently available wrappers typically expose a large portion of the article and/or the entire article when the wrapper is fully opened. This can result in a decreased hygienic environment during use of the article and/or after use of the article if the wrapper is configured to accept a portion of the article for disposal after use.
As such, it would be desirable to provide a wrapper for an article for feminine hygiene, such as, e.g., a tampon, that can provide increased hygiene, predictable and easy opening, discrete disposal, and that can remain in one piece after opening. It would also be desirable to provide a wrapper for an article for feminine hygiene that can provide reduced exposure of the article upon opening the wrapper.